Check out my shiny new budget. Is it too tight?

I walked away from the sale of my businesses last December with a little money in the bank. Enough to be excited about the transaction; not enough for you to construe this as bragging. It was a fun month – then it was time to look for a job.

By March I’d landed with YNAB, and I’ve loved it. I’m really grateful to be here.

The only sticky point has been the 50% income reduction. Don’t get me wrong – I’m compensated well. It just happens my self-employed income was higher.

Rather than deal strictly with the truth, I’ve lived off a combination of the proceeds of the business sale and my YNAB income, with the idea that I’d eventually supplement the YNAB income with freelancing. I’ve started to line up freelance writing clients, but it occurs to me that the smart move would be to live strictly on my YNAB income and use freelancing to pay off the last of my debts and get serious about saving.

So, I made a new budget. It requires a lifestyle change, for sure, but we’re not talking about Greek-level austerity here. I thought I’d share it with the YNAB community and get everybody’s take.

Your Next Step

Remember, budgeting is not restrictive. You won’t be spending less, you’ll be spending right. You can do this! Today. Right now. What do you have to lose? Except all that debt and stress. (Ok, so kind of a lot.)